


Irresistible

by stellarmeadow



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 07:51:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4130236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarmeadow/pseuds/stellarmeadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dead body, a missing hand, and a break in where nothing was stolen are almost enough of a mystery to distract Steve from his increasing inability to resist his feelings for Danny. </p><p>Almost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Irresistible

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't think I'd ever finish this, but here it is! So much thanks to smudgegirl and uxseven for the reading and cheer leading - wouldn't have finished without you!! :):) 
> 
> This is set between seasons 4 and 5, so ignore anything that happened in season 5. :)

Steve surveyed the room, checking the potential entrance and exit points, looking for anyone whose behavior was out of the ordinary. All he saw, however, was a lot of rich people in nice clothes eating food that they paid about a hundred times its worth for. 

And Danny, looking amazing in a suit. Not that Steve hadn't known all these years that Danny was gorgeous. He'd just managed to mostly ignore the effect it had on him, at least until a building literally fell on his head.

Funny how Danny coming that close to death right in front of Steve's eyes had forced to see a lot of things. So much so that Steve had had his hands full making sure Danny hadn't noticed anything different. 

"Remind me again why we're here?" Danny said, leaning in to Steve and lowering his voice, which did nothing to help Steve's attempts to hide the effect Danny had on him. 

"Because the tip we got said that there might be a robbery."

Danny sighed. "And again, why are we here?"

"Would you rather be outside in a cramped truck, watching through a camera?" Steve asked.

"We heard that," Kono said in Steve's earpiece. 

"And we will gladly trade places with you," Chin added. 

Danny laughed. "Put on your monkey suit and come on in."

"Everybody is staying where they are," Steve said, and honestly, when had he become the grown up? 

"Spoilsport," Danny said. "I'm surprised you aren't dying to get out of here."

"It beats two days sitting still in the jungle waiting for...something," Steve said. Not to mention that the close quarters of the truck, with Danny so close, was an even worse kind of hell than this. 

Danny laughed. "Are you sure about that?"

"Are you being eaten half alive by insects?" 

"No," Danny said, "though I think I see a couple of women who might be interested in eating you alive, judging by the way they're salivating as they stare holes in you."

Steve told himself that was absolutely not a hint of jealousy in Danny's voice. "I think I'll take the insects, thanks."

He also told himself that wasn't a satisfied smirk that crossed Danny's face. "If we're not done by nine, I need to duck out to call Grace for a minute," Danny said. 

"No problem." Steve was starting to think the tip had been a hoax, but the governor was hosting the event. And Chin's source was usually solid, even if he refused to tell them where he'd heard this one. They hadn't had much of a choice. 

The governor left the table and climbed the stairs to the stage. Steve automatically stepped up his surveillance of the room, noting Danny doing the same. 

"Good evening again, ladies and gentlemen," the governor said, his practiced politician smile firmly in place. "I want to thank you again for your generous donations. I promise I'm not here to bore you with more speeches, I'm only here to introduce tonight's entertainment. Please welcome to the stage a gifted hypnotist and magician - the Amazing Nico."

Steve watched the governor leave the stage, following his progress carefully until he was seated once more. The two tables between them offered just enough room for Steve and Danny to keep a wider view but was close enough they could get to him in a hurry, just in case. 

Even if Steve was starting to think the tip was a hoax, he was still doing his job to the best of his ability.

"Hypnosis," Danny said quietly, leaning in to Steve. "Please. What are they going to bring out next, a psychic? These show psychics are all fakes." 

"I thought you'd worked with them before."

Danny shrugged. "There are a few around that are legit," he said. "But the ones who do shows like this are as real as magicians."

"Maybe this one's different."

"Well, good, then, maybe when he's done we can get him to hypnotize you to be less crazy."

Steve rolled his eyes as the Amazing Nico made a few jokes before asking the audience to stand up. Steve wasn't fond of that--it was a lot harder to see threats if everyone was standing--but after some odd exercise where he had people raise their hands up, he let everyone sit down again. 

"Okay," Nico said, handing a list to someone who looked like wait staff standing at the bottom of the stage. "I've asked my new friend Bob, the waiter, to bring up some people who, based on my observation just now, will make excellent victims--I mean subjects for our show tonight."

Steve's attention was drawn to Bob, who had stopped in front of Danny. "Sir, Mr. Nico would like you to join him on stage."

"Oh, no, thank you," Danny said, folding his arms over his chest as if that would protect him.

"What's the matter, Danny?" Steve asked. "I thought he was a fake."

"He most certainly is. Which is why I don't want to waste my time."

"Don't you want to show him up?" Steve raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe it's that you're worried that you'll be hypnotized after all?"

Danny glared at Steve. "Okay, I'll go. But only to make my point."

"Go get 'em, tiger." 

Danny smacked Steve on the arm as he got up and went with Bob. When Bob had collected all of the participants, he led them up to the stage. "Thank you all for being good sports," Nico said. "If you'll follow me, we'll just get you all ready. The rest of you lesser folks in the audience," he added, "please watch this brief video on how hypnosis works, and we'll see you in a moment."

The participants filed off stage behind Nico, Danny shooting a glare at Steve before disappearing. Steve ignored the video, scanning the crowd instead, but things continued to be quiet out front, and now, with Danny backstage, they had a view on what was going on there as well. 

The video finished, and Nico came back out with all the participants. "Now," Nico said, "we've had a lovely chat back stage, and you're all in agreement that hypnosis didn't work on you, right?"

Everyone nodded in unison. Perfect unison, in fact. "Good. When I count to three, you're all going to be completely unable to nod your heads. One, two, three." The commands were in a rapid fire voice, almost impossible to understand a few of the words as he spoke. "So, you all agreed that hypnosis didn't work on you, right?"

All of the participants stood there for a second or two before looking confused, and as if they were trying to move their heads but they were stuck. Steve saw Danny biting his lower lip, but no matter how much he did, his head refused to nod.

"And release," Nico said. 

Their heads bobbed up and down fast, as if they'd managed to jerk them out of someone's hold. 

"Excellent! So, now that we know you're all convinced that there is no way that the hypnosis worked, let's see if we can get it to not work some more," Nico said. "On the count of three, you are going to think that all the napkins on the tables in the room are actually hundred dollar bills. No one else knows this, so you can go and take them all without anyone the wiser. When I get to three, I want you to go out there and get rich. One, two, three."

The participants hurried off the stage, smiling at the people sitting at each table as they started collecting the napkins. Some of them were asking politely, others were sneaking them of tables and stuffing them in their pockets and other places in their clothes. 

Danny came to Steve's table, smiling politely. "You don't mind if I take your napkin, right?" he asked, taking the napkin and shoving it in a jacket pocket. 

"Hey, Danny," Steve said, taking out his phone and hitting record on the camera. He pointed it at Danny. "Why'd you want my napkin?"

Danny looked around, then leaned in and lowered his voice. "It's not really a napkin," he said, his voice a near whisper. "It's a hundred dollar bill. But shhh! Don't tell anybody and I'll share the loot when we're done."

Steve laughed until long after Danny was back on stage. 

He recorded Danny doing various things in the show--strictly to prove to Danny he'd been wrong, that was all. He certainly wasn't going to post it on the internet or anything. No matter how much he might be tempted the next time Danny went ballistic.

Finally, Nico and his participants took one last round of applause, and Nico led them offstage to undo whatever whammy he'd put on their brains. Danny was one of the last ones to return, walking incredibly slow, as if he was dreading getting back to the table. 

"So," Steve said, not bothering to hide one ounce of his amusement, "still think he's a fake?"

"I'm almost afraid to ask what happened. No, wait," Danny said, holding up a hand, "I don't want to know."

"You don't want to know?"

Danny sighed. "Tell me."

"Oh I can do better than that." Steve pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Let me show you." 

He got through the napkin video before Danny tried to grab the phone. Steve kept it out of reach. "It doesn't matter if you get my phone, Danno. The videos are all in the cloud."

"I have ways of getting rid of those, too." At Steve's look, Danny shrugged. "Okay, Toast has ways, and he owes me."

Steve's phone rang, and he glanced at it to see it was Duke Lukela's cell phone number. "McGarrett," he answered. 

"Steve, we've got a case I think your team might want to be in on."

"Text the address to me, Kono and Chin," Steve said. "We'll be there soon."

"What about Danny?"

"Don't worry--I'm sure Danny's hypnosis left him with the ability to find it by psychic powers."

He hung up, grinning sunnily at Danny's glare. "Wake up, hypno boy," Steve said. "We have a case."

"I hate you so, so much."

***

By the time they talked to the governor and his team, making sure he was safe, and escaped the banquet, Chin and Kono had already made it to the scene. "Sorry about taking you out of the van," Steve said, as he ducked under the crime scene tape, holding it up until Danny was through as well. 

"Yeah, we're all broken up about it," Kono said, leading them down the alley to where CSU was already hard at work. "Sorry about taking you out of the dinner."

"We couldn't have gotten this call an hour earlier?" Danny said. 

"Nah," Chin said, with a wide grin, "if we had, we'd have missed the chance to get video of you all hypnotized." 

"That video ever sees the light of day," Danny said, "and you are in deep shit."

Chin just laughed. "I don't think I'm the one you have to worry about."

All three of them looked at Steve, who gave them a blank look in return. "What's so special about this case that Duke called us?" he asked, as they arrived at the body. Steve looked down, bothered more by the remains of the dumpster the body had been pulled from--the way a person had been treated as if their life was trash somehow always more difficult to deal with than just murder itself. 

He looked more closely at the body itself, then did a double take. "Oh." It wasn't that the body itself, was worse than a typical scene, minus the trash. The fact that it was missing a hand, however, was unusual. He looked up at Chin and Kono. "Did they find the hand?"

"Duke said they're still looking, but so far, no luck," Kono said. "They found him when they were emptying the dumpster, so a crew is checking the dumpster as well to make sure it didn't fall out in there when he did."

Steve frowned down at the body. "Okay, obviously he was shot, so why take his hand?"

"An excellent question, Commander," Max said, joining them. "More precisely, take his hand after he was already dead?"

"Did he have special clearance somewhere?" Steve asked. "Somewhere that required a fingerprint for access?"

"He was a janitor," Chin said. "He worked at UH Manoa, so it's not likely he'd have access to something requiring that kind of security, but we'll check."

Steve nodded. "Max, let us know what you find?" 

"Absolutely, Commander. As soon as I am finished."

"Thanks." He looked at the team. "Come on, let's go see what we can find on this janitor."

***

"Lewis Chen," Kono said, swiping a picture of the dead janitor up onto the overhead screens. "He'd worked at UH for about six months. UH says he didn't have any kind of special security that required a finger or palm scan to get in. But Duke says they've combed everything, and there's no sign of his hand."

Steve frowned at the screen. "Why cut off the hand?"

"Maybe he pissed of the wrong person?" Chin said. "Maybe it's symbolic?"

"Maybe the guy just has a thing for hands?" Danny suggested.

Steve studied the picture for a few more seconds. "Do we have a lead on who killed him?"

"Max found one print. No match in the database," Kono said, "but check this out." She flicked the screen and shots of a bedroom appeared on the overheads. "Last week there was a break in at a house in Kahala. Not normally the type of thing HPD investigates so closely, but the guy was Lawrence Wright, a big shot at Lexicon Labs, and he was very persistent. The fingerprint on our vic was also at the scene, and there's no match to anyone associated with Wright or his family. No other record of that print anywhere else, either." 

"What was stolen?" Danny asked.

"That's the other weird thing," Kono said. "Nothing was missing."

Steve stared at the crime scene next to the picture of Chen. "That doesn't make any sense," he said. "Someone who's never committed a crime before suddenly breaks into a rich guy's house, doesn't steal anything, and then a week later, he kills a janitor and takes his hand?"

The incoming video call notification blinked, and Chin answered it, putting Fong up on the overhead. "Charlie," Chin said. "What do you have?"

"The guys were going through the debris near the victim," Charlie said, "and found a business card with a fingerprint that matched the one on Chen."

"Who is he?" Steve asked.

"Arthur Drake. I'm sending you all his info now."

Steve was getting a headache from this case. "You're sure that it's a match?"

"It's science. I'm sure it's a match," Charlie said. "Whether or not the print belongs to Drake, I don't know. Bring me Drake's print and I can tell you."

"Okay, thanks, Charlie."

The video call ended, and Chin pulled up the information on Drake. "Arthur Drake," he read. "Forty-five years old, an accountant with Bank of Hawaii for the last twenty years. Spotless record."

"And his card just happened to end up near our dead guy at the murder scene?" Danny asked, clearly having the same problem with this that Steve was. "That's a little too perfect."

"It might not be him," Kono said. "Just because the fingerprint is on the card doesn't mean the print is Drake's."

"No," Steve said, "but it's a place to start." He hitched his gun into place. "Danny and I will go talk to Drake. See if you can find any connection between him, Chen and Wright while we're gone."

***

"It doesn't make any sense," Danny said as they drove to Drake's house. 

"What?"

"This case." 

Steve glanced at him. "Maybe Drake can shed some light on it." He glanced again, this time with a smirk. "If he's uncooperative, we know where to find a good hypnotist."

Danny growled, which only made Steve want to tease him more, so he'd make that sound again. "You are not funny, Steven."

"You know what's funny, Danny?" Steve said with a grin. "You picking up napkins and stuffing them everywhere thinking they were hundred dollar bills."

"If that video gets made public, I will hide every one of your weapons, Steven. Every grenade, every bullet---everything."

"You won't." And he wouldn't, because Steve would never actually publish the video. Which Danny knew.

Danny growled again, and Steve gripped the wheel little tighter as he adjusted himself in the seat. "Not as long as that video stays hidden," Danny said.

"I don't know," Steve said, "I think Gracie would appreciate it."

"I will shoot you with your own gun."

"No, you won’t."

***

Arthur Drake's house looked quiet enough, the 2012 beige Toyota Corolla registered in his name sitting in the driveway. Steve knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked harder.

"Maybe he's still at work?" Danny said.

"This late?" Steve said. "Besides, his car is here."

"Good point."

Steve tested the doorknob, surprised when it turned easily in his hand. He gave Danny a look before walking into the house, gun out.

"At least you didn't have to break that one down," Danny muttered.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Arthur Drake!" he called, as he made his way through the living room. He heard water running down the hallway, and met Danny's eyes, jerking his head in the direction of the closed bathroom door.

"Drake!" Steve knocked on the door. "Open up!"

Still no answer. Steve exchanged a look with Danny, then turned the handle, opening the door carefully.

The room was full of steam, the shower running on the other side of an opaque shower door. Steve could see someone on the other side, but whoever it was, they were lying in the tub under the shower spray, unmoving.

He pulled the door back to find Arthur Drake, a large bullet hole in the side of his head, and a gun half falling out of his hand. Steve knelt down and felt for a pulse, but even before he came up empty, he knew the outcome. 

Arthur Drake was dead.

***

"Drake's print is a match," Chin said, pulling the fingerprint and Drake's ID up on the overheads. "So maybe he killed Chen, then couldn't live with it and ended up killing himself."

Steve stared at the screen for a moment. "It doesn't add up," he said finally. "Drake's clean, he's got a good job, normal citizen, then one day he breaks into someone's house and doesn't steal anything, and then the next week he randomly kills a guy and cuts off his hand?"

"Stranger things have happened," Kono said.

"True. But where's the hand? CSU turned the house upside down. It's not there."

After a few seconds, Danny said, "I gotta agree. Something doesn't sit right."

Steve rubbed his eyes. "It's late," he said. "Let's get some sleep and regroup in the morning."

***

Steve pulled up to Danny's house, throwing the Camaro in neutral before he pulled on the parking brake. He waited for a full minute, with no sign of Danny, before tapping the horn. It was still another minute before Danny came hurrying out of the house, juggling his phone, keys and a travel mug. 

"Sorry," Danny said as he was dropping into the passenger seat. "Didn't sleep well, and this morning was a disaster."

"It was a pretty late night," Steve said. That's why he'd just dropped Danny off and driven the Camaro home--Danny did okay without much sleep, but he was still no match for Steve. 

"Yeah, and then I had a headache and then I kept waking up from this dream--"

Danny's abrupt stop, combined with the way he was being too careful as he tucked away his keys, set the hair on the back of Steve's neck on end. "What dream?"

"It was nothing," Danny said, flipping through messages on his phone.

Steve pulled up to red light and stopped, twisting a little in the seat to get a better look at Danny. "I know that tone," Steve said. "It's not nothing."

Danny glared at him for a brief second before looking back at his phone. "Nothing is nothing, Steven. Let it go."

Steve took in the way Danny's cheeks were tinged with a pink that went all the way to the tips of his ears and frowned. "Look, if this is about the hypnosis, you know I'd never actually do anything with the video--"

"Of course not."

"But I can delete it if it'll make you feel better."

"It's not the video, Steven."

"Then what?"

A horn honked behind them, and Steve realized the light had changed. He pulled off, dividing his attention between Danny and the road. "Danny," Steve said. "What's going on?"

"I told you, nothing."

It wasn't nothing, but clearly whatever it was, Danny wasn't about to share it with him, especially when the mere thought of it seemed to make Danny blush.

Which led Steve down a path he was sure must be wrong, whatever he wished. It probably had nothing to do with Steve at all. Danny was probably dreaming about something wholly unrelated to Steve. He needed to just forget the conversation happened. 

Steve turned on the radio and kept his eyes on the road the rest of the way to HQ.

***

Chin and Kono were at the computer table when Steve walked in, Danny lagging behind. "What do we have?" Steve asked, seeing unfamiliar pictures on the overheads.

"A lead on why the hand was stolen, we think," Chin said, pointing at a screen that had Chen's face, a palm print, and a badge for a company Steve vaguely recognized. 

"Xantha Security?" Steve said. "They're armed guards, right?"

Kono nodded, throwing information on Xantha up onto another screen. "Xantha does the pickup rounds for most of the banks in Honolulu. Chen used to be a janitor for their downtown headquarters before he moved to UH. Funny thing, though. Xantha doesn't wipe prints, they just deactivate them."

"That seems a little unsecure for a security company," Danny said.

"It does, and it is," Chin said. "Someone went in two days ago and reactivated Chen's handprint so it would get through security with a badge."

"So Chen's reactivated access was used last night?" Steve guessed.

"Right around early morning shift change," Kono said. "He--or rather someone in possession of his hand--entered Xantha at 4:28 this morning, and drove out with one of their trucks at 4:34."

"To get in, find the truck, and get out in six minutes, whoever did this has to be prepared," Danny said.

"Prepared and good," Kono agreed. "Cameras lost sight of the truck three blocks from Xantha and can't pick it back up anywhere. It's like it disappeared."

Steve stared at the bold red and gold colors on the Xantha truck on screen. "Brightly branded armored trucks don't just disappear off the street."

"This one did," Chin said. He cast an amused glance in Danny's direction. "Then again, maybe someone thought it was a hundred dollar bill and stuck it in their pocket."

"I will shoot you," Danny said, eyes narrowed as he glared at Chin.

Chin's amusement didn't go away, but he went back to the case. "HPD has some guys still checking traffic cams in the area, but we don't hold out much hope. The best we can do is try to figure out why it was stolen."

"That would be obvious," Danny said. "They want to use it to rob a bank. That truck, a couple of uniforms, and a bank will just hand over the cash."

"Except the trucks are numbered," Kono said. "And even if they change the number, the guards are given code words that change daily, so they'd need those along with the uniforms, and the right number to put on the truck for that day's delivery. It's a lot for one heist."

Steve shrugged. "Killing a guy and stealing his hand just to get access to the truck is a lot for one heist," he said. "If these guys will go that far, assuming they have ways to get--or get around--the rest of that is not outside of the realm of possibility."

"So then the question is where are they going to hit?" Danny asked, the end of his question half-obscured by a yawn.

"Need a nap, there, Danny?" Kono asked.

Danny shot her a glare. "Long night."

"Couldn't sleep?"

He shook his head. "Weird dreams."

Steve studied him, seeing the same pink tinge to his skin. "Nightmares?" Steve asked, trusting the fact that Chin and Kono were there to keep him from getting yelled at for pushing again.

"Horrible ones," Danny said, eyes on Steve's chin. "Terrible."

Something still didn't add up there. "Maybe you should talk about them, Danno. Might help."

"Maybe you should mind your own business and focus on the case."

Steve was well aware of Danny's last straw tone, and that was it. "Okay," Steve said. "Let's go talk to Xantha and see if we can get anywhere."

***

Danny's silence in the car had Steve's nerves on edge until he couldn't take it any longer. "Seriously," Steve said, glancing at Danny, "what's up with you?"

"I told you," Danny said, staring out the window, "didn't sl--"

"--sleep well, I heard you the first several times," Steve said.

"Then why are you asking me again?"

Steve sighed. "Danny, come on, if the video bothers you that much, I can--"

"Not everything is about you, Steve."

The words were strained, bitten off, as if Danny had had to force them out of his throat. That, combined with the flush rising up Danny's neck into his cheeks, and the way he refused to look in Steve's direction, was better than any lie detector on the planet. 

Steve was aware that not everything was about him, but this definitely was. Or at least it had something to do with him. He was sure of it.

He knew better to push when Danny was in this kind of a mood, though. "Okay," Steve said, and reached out and turned on the radio.

***

Ruben Xantha himself, CEO of the company, greeted Steve and Danny as soon as they made it through security. "Thank you for coming," Xantha said, shaking their hands in turn. "You can imagine what a terrible thing this is for a security company. I've been fielding calls from banks all day, and I know they'll be happy to hear that Five-0 is on the case."

"All due respect, Mr. Xantha," Steve said, "but you may not be aware that the theft of your truck is connected to two murders, so those are our priority."

"Yes, I heard, terrible about those men, but there's nothing you can do for them, right? My company, on the other hand--"

"Is currently our main lead in finding a murderer before he kills someone else," Steve said.

Xantha's lips thinned. "I'm sorry. Of course," he said. "Forgive me, I'm just frazzled." He wet his lips and lowered his voice before asking, "You don't think the killer might after anyone here, do you?"

"We don't really know," Danny said. "What can you tell us about the truck?"

Xantha shrugged. "It's a standard armored truck," he said. "It can hold about six and a half tons of material, and it has the engine to haul that much weight plus its own."

"It was empty when it was stolen, right?" Steve asked. At Xantha's nod, Steve said, "So the thief could've gotten away in a hurry?"

"At that time of day, definitely," Xantha confirmed. "There wouldn't have been much traffic around here yet." 

"Okay," Steve said, "we're going to need a list of your employees--"

"Already sent to Lieutenant Kelly, along with the list of runs that truck was scheduled to make, though we've changed all the codes already, of course."

Steve raised an eyebrow, exchanging a look with Danny. "We appreciate the quick cooperation. Not every company is this helpful."

"The faster this gets resolved, the faster my customers stop threatening to fire me."

Which was a good point, but it didn't entirely let him off the hook as a suspect. "Are there any other uses you can think of for the truck?" Danny asked.

"They're fast and can hold a lot of weight," Xantha said. "Anything heavy you want to steal, this is the getaway car you want."

Which left them with a lot of options to cover. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Xantha," Steve said. "If you think of anything else helpful, let us know."

***

Danny's car silence continued until a few minutes into the drive. "I saw this show the other night," he said suddenly. "The cops were chasing this girl on a motorcycle, and then she drove around a corner, and when the cops rounded the corner, she was just gone."

"Where'd she go?"

"There was a moving truck waiting around the corner with a ramp. She drove right up into the trailer and the cops never saw her," Danny said. "If there was a truck waiting in a camera blind spot, it could make someone disappear from cameras without a trace."

Steve had seen that ploy on TV before, now that he thought about it. "An armored truck isn't the same as a motorcycle, though," Steve said. "It would have to be a certain kind of ramp to get the truck on there, though. It's not like you could just stick a couple of pieces of plywood out the back like a normal moving truck."

Danny nodded. "So if we go through the footage again looking for that instead of the armored car--" 

"--we might get a lead on where the armored truck went," Steve finished, already hitting the button to call Chin. 

***

By the time Steve and Danny got back to HQ, Chin and Kono had found the moving truck. 

"I remembered seeing a truck that looked out of place pulling out of that area," Kono said. "We managed to follow it to an industrial park about ten miles from Xantha, but once it pulled in we lost it. No sight of it coming back out of that area, though."

"So if the truck makes a good getaway car," Danny said slowly, "and it's not any good to them as a Xantha truck, chances are they're likely to paint it, right?"

"They'd have to," Chin said. "The moment they take it on the road as a Xantha truck it would be spotted."

Steve studied the area Kono had pulled up on the overheads. "Okay, so there are six buildings in that industrial park. Maybe the truck's in one of them, getting a facelift." 

"And maybe," Danny said, "if we get there fast enough, we can still find it."

***

By the time they got to the sixth building, Steve was ready to punch something. "Empty," he said, looking around for anything that might not do a lot of damage if he hit it. 

Danny was looking around the edges of the room. "Not entirely," he said, after a moment. "Check this out."

He pulled an old, grimy tarp off a stack that turned out to be paint cans as Steve joined him. "The truck may not be here," he said, "but I think it's safe to say it's white now."

Steve poked around at the cans and uncovered a few in a medium blue. "White and blue," Steve said. 

"Well, that narrows it down."

Danny's sarcasm mirrored Steve's frustration. It narrowed it down, but not enough. And certainly not enough for black and white traffic cameras to be of a lot of help. 

"Guys," Kono's voice came through the ear pieces. "We found the trailer."

Steve and Danny ran out to see Kono about a hundred yards away. The trailer was jacked up, the truck that had pulled it no longer attached, and the trailer was empty. "Fong was able to clear up the footage just enough to tell what the numbers were on the side," Kono said, holding up her phone with a picture on it. "This one matches."

"Get CSU over there," Steve said. "If anyone so much as brushed their hands near this thing, I want their prints."

***

Once they got back to HQ, they went through the footage around the industrial park, but there was no sign of an armored truck in any color, red, white, or otherwise. There were, however, several larger trucks that could have driven the armored truck out. Three disappeared from cameras long enough to have let their cargo out, but there was no sign of the armored truck in the area soon after. 

"HPD is going to keep checking the footage," Chin said, leaning against the computer table. "It's possible they switched it to a different truck or it hid out for a while and then left."

"They obviously knew we'd check the cameras," Kono said. "They knew where they were from the start and planned to avoid them."

Chin's phone buzzed, and he answered, thanking the person on the other end before hanging up. "No luck on the fingerprints," he said. "The trucking company says they were hired to pick up cargo and deliver it, paid in cash, and never saw the person driving the truck."

"And they didn't think there was anything odd about being hired to pick up a truck and take off as fast as they could?" Danny asked.

"Apparently the guy who booked the order is on vacation in some remote place in Indonesia," Chin said. "They're trying to get in touch with him, and will let us know when they have."

"How helpful," Steve said, checking his watch to see it was after eight. "We're not going to get anywhere tonight unless they find that guy who booked the order. Chin, let us know if they find the guy. Otherwise, let's regroup in the morning."

***

Steve pulled into his drive and threw the car in neutral, pulling on the brake. The lack of chatter from Danny on the way home from HQ had underscored Danny's odd behavior all day. "You wanna come in and have dinner?"

Danny licked his lips, and Steve ignored his own reaction to it--something he'd had to train himself to do lately. "I don't know," Danny said finally. "It's late."

"You gotta eat." And Danny clearly needed to talk, whether he wanted to or not. 

Danny's lips thinned, but after a few seconds, he nodded. "Right. Yeah."

Steve led the way into the house, shutting off the alarm before going through to the kitchen. He pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge and handed one to Danny before pulling out food. "Steak okay?" Steve asked.

"Have I ever turned down steak?" 

The humor was back in Danny's tone, even if it sounded a little forced, and Steve felt the tension between his neck and shoulders ease a fraction. "Good point," Steve said. 

They went onto the lanai, Steve grilling the steaks while watching Danny out of the corner of his eye. Danny didn't seem angry, so whatever was bothering him, at least Steve hadn't pissed him off. Well, no more than usual, anyway.

"So how's Grace?" Steve asked.

"Fine. Enjoying playing big sister to Charlie for a couple of days."

There was nothing off in that statement, so it wasn't something about Grace bothering him. "How are your folks?"

Danny shrugged. "Fine. They sound like they're having a second honeymoon." One corner of his lips turned up. "To be honest, it's a little disgusting."

Nothing off there, either. "There's nothing disgusting about love," Steve said.

Something flickered in Danny's eyes, but his voice was normal as he said, "You ever stood behind two newlyweds in line at Disney World for an hour? Trust me, it can get pretty disgusting."

Steve laughed, even as he searched for that hint of what he'd seen. But it was gone as quickly as it had come. 

He mulled that over while finishing the steaks, going over the conversation at the time. It had been when Steve had first mentioned love, he realized, but he waited until Danny opened his second beer, until the food was in front of them and they'd dug in, before asking, "So how's Amber?"

Danny shrugged again, a different shrug this time, less casual and more forced. "I haven't really talked to her in a while."

Aha. "You two have a fight?"

"No, we're just...different."

"Danny," Steve said carefully, "if this is you pushing her away--"

"It's not like that," Danny said, the words ringing true. "It's just...we want different things." 

"How so?"

Danny took a long drink, looking out at the ocean. "It's complicated," he said eventually. 

"So uncomplicate it."

He laughed, ducking his head, that smile Steve worked so hard to get out of him finally breaking through. "Of course _you_ would think it was that easy," he said, finally looking up at Steve through his lashes. "Unfortunately, not all of us see things the same way."

"You and Amber don't see things the same way?"

"Among others." Danny took another drink, his eyes focusing back on the ocean once more. "Anyway, I don't think it's going to work out."

"Why not? Lots of couples work out issues, Danny."

This time the laughter was a little harsher. "Yeah, and lots don't." His eyes flicked to Steve, then back to the sea. "I don't think this is one of those things that can be worked out," Danny said quietly. 

"But maybe if you--" 

"Leave it alone, Steve." That thing Steve had seen earlier flashed again in Danny's eyes. "You can't fix everything, no matter how hard you try."

Steve took another drink, thinking as he ate a little more. "So is that what's got you up nights?" he asked. 

"What?"

"You said you couldn't sleep last night, something about dreams. But I've seen you when you're tired, and this was more than just one night." Steve took another drink. "So is that what's keeping you up?" 

"Not exactly."

"So what then?"

Danny focused on him again, something like real anger in his eyes this time. "I said leave it alone, Steve." 

The words were short, bitten off, mirroring the anger Steve had seen, and he considered dropping it. It would be easier. 

But when had either of them made it easier for the other when it came to something that was clearly important? "I don't think I can." 

"Sure you can. Put your lips together, and then keep them closed."

"Danny."

"Steve."

Steve sat back, folding his arms over his chest. "Tell me about the dreams."

"No."

"Tell me about the dreams."

Danny stood up, his chair skittering across the lanai. "Fuck you," he ground out as he stormed back into the house. 

Steve was up before the door closed, racing after Danny. He caught up just before Danny reached the front door. "Stop!" Steve said, grabbing Danny's arm, keeping him just out of reach of the front door.

"Let me go."

"Not until you tell me what the hell is going on."

"Let me go," Danny repeated, a hint of desperation in the command.

Despite the desperation, Steve noticed that Danny wasn't pulling away. "No," Steve said. 

Danny turned, that flash in his eyes again, long enough this time that Steve felt a jolt in response. "I said let me go," Danny said slowly.

"Or what?" Steve challenged, that jolt zinging through his veins, starting to make sense. 

"Or you won't like the consequences."

"Try me."

Danny licked his lips, and Steve felt his lungs skip, like he'd forgotten how to breathe for a second. All the things he'd been dreaming about himself were flowing through his brain like the world's best porn, but he needed to be sure, needed to be absolutely sure, because this was Danny. This was the one person on the planet he couldn't lose.

Steve loosened his grip on Danny's bicep just a little, enough to run his thumb down the inside of Danny's forearm, feeling his way along the strong veins there until he found Danny's pulse, speeding along so much faster than it should be. 

Danny's mouth was open, his chest rising and falling quickly. "Steve, please, just let me go."

"No." Steve closed his hand around Danny's wrist, shuffling closer, until he was close, could feel that warmth that Danny emanated, the one that drew Steve in like gravity, pulling him down to the ground in a rush, but always catching him, no matter what. Always there. "Danny...."

"Fuck," Danny muttered, before closing the distance between them. His mouth was hot and amazing, pressed against Steve's, and Steve wrapped his arms around Danny's back, opening his mouth as he tried to push even closer to Danny. 

The kiss was better than he'd dreamed, and he never wanted it to end, chasing Danny's mouth when Danny would've pulled back. Several kisses later, Steve lifted his head, sanity returning just enough to make him worry that maybe this wasn't what Danny wanted. After all, he'd done everything he could to avoid it. He'd tried to escape.

One of Steve's hands had made its way into Danny's hair. Steve slid it around until it cradled the side of Danny's head, Steve's thumb on Danny's cheek. "I, uh...." Steve didn't know where to start.

"If you say you're sorry," Danny said, voice laced with humor and something darker, something that sent another shot of electricity through Steve's body, "I will punch you."

Okay then. "Are you?" Steve asked, though, because he had to be sure, had to know he hadn't fucked this up.

"Only if you are."

It took Steve's fogged brain a second to translate that. "Good," Steve said, feeling a smile spread across his face. "Good. We're good."

A hesitant smile started on Danny's face, growing into the grin that felt a little like the sun. "Of course," Danny said, shifting against Steve, making Steve bite back a groan, "we could be better."

"Oh?" Steve's hands dropped, making their way down Danny's back. "How is that?"

"We could be horizontal," Danny said, leaning in for a kiss that was slower than the others, less urgent, but still hotter somehow. "And naked," he added against Steve's lips.

"God yes," Steve said, pulling back to grab Danny's hand and practically pull him up the stairs.

***

The alarm waking Steve was rare--usually he was up before it went off. The alarm shutting off before he could open his eyes was unheard of, but the warm, naked body in his arms explained that before his brain could even fully form the question. 

Steve blinked his eyes open to see the back of Danny's neck, looking imminently kissable. Steve took advantage, enjoying the long groan that vibrated through Danny's body, as well as the slide of skin as Danny shifted against him. 

"Gotta get up," Danny muttered, even as he pushed back against Steve. 

"Can't," Steve said, his lips traveling down Danny's neck to work their way across his shoulder. "Somebody shut off my alarm."

The alarm that was on Steve's side of the bed, where he always slept, as it was closest to the door and therefore the most defensible position in the room. But he'd let Danny have it without hesitation. 

He'd give up a lot more to have Danny in his bed. 

"Because I need more sleep," Danny said, lifting his shoulder to demand more attention to it.

Steve reached the end of Danny's shoulder. "You complaining?" Steve asked, shifting to pull Danny onto his back so Steve could taste his way up Danny's collarbone. 

"Nope. Nuh-uh. Not a bit."

Danny played with the hair at the nape of Steve's neck, delaying Steve's response for a second. "That's a first," Steve said, biting down lightly on Danny's collarbone, the hiss in response going straight to Steve's dick, "you not complaining."

"Shut up," Danny said, dragging Steve's head up until their lips met. 

The alarm blared again, and Danny let out a different groan as Steve reached out to shut it off. He thought briefly about ignoring it in favor of another round of sex, but they had a case to solve. "We have to go," Steve said, ducking down for one more kiss before rolling off Danny and off the bed. 

Danny yawned as he got out of bed, the sight of naked, half-hard Danny almost enough to make Steve forget duty in favor of pushing Danny back into the bed. "We really need to catch this guy today," Danny said, scrubbing his eyes. "Because if I don't get some sleep soon, bad things will happen."

Steve stopped on his way to the bathroom for another kiss. "That your way of complaining that I kept you up all night having sex?"

"Still not complaining," Danny said, a hint of a smile showing on his face. "Not about that. Ever."

"Good."

"You know," Danny said, as Steve walked into the bathroom, "it'd probably be faster if we showered together."

"No," Steve called out, as he turned on the water. "It definitely wouldn't."

***

The day was full of dead end leads that left them all frustrated by the time they'd finished dinner. Steve was just about to suggest going home when the owner of the trucking company called to say that Ryan Kealoha, the guy who had taken the booking, was back in town.

"I thought he wasn't due back for two more days," Steve said.

"He's not due back to work," the owner replied. "But he just texted another employee to say he was home."

"What's his home address?" Steve wrote down the information and thanked the owner before hanging up. 

He was just about to send Chin and Kono, knowing how tired Danny was, when Danny grabbed the paper out of Steve's hand. "Let's go."

Chin exchanged a glance with Steve before Chin said, "We can--"

"No, we got it," Danny said. "Go home."

***

"I mean, really, who in this day and age is this hard to track down?" Danny said, staring at Kealoha's house. 

Kealoha hadn't been home when they'd arrived, so they were sitting outside, waiting for him to show up. They'd tried the owner, but he said he hadn't heard anything else, and no, he didn't know where Kealoha hung out when he wasn't home. They'd tried tracking his cell phone, but apparently it was off. That left them sitting there, waiting.

"We could've let Chin and Kono come," Steve reminded him.

"I know."

"Then why did you insist?" 

"I don't know."

Steve held onto his patience with a tight grip. "Why don't you try to get a couple minutes of shuteye while we wait?"

"I'm fine."

Right. He was fine. That was why he was cranky--even by Danny standards this was over the top cranky--and why he looked like death warmed over. "Right. You're fine."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Steve pressed his lips together and took a deep breath. "Nothing," he said, going for a more even tone. "You're fine."

Danny's sigh was impatient--Steve thought he should probably be worried that he could identify at least ten different Danny sighs, but he couldn't find it in himself to be bothered. "Sorry," Danny said after a moment, rubbing his eyes. "I'm just...I don't know."

"Tired?" Steve suggested.

"Not that," Danny said, waving a hand as he amended, "or not _just_ that, anyway. It's just...something about this case bothers me."

"A lot of things about this case bothers me," Steve said. "Chief among them that we still don't know what we're expecting next."

"No, it's not just that, either. It's something else. I can't put my finger on it, it just bothers me."

Steve frowned, studying Danny for a few seconds before a car pulled up to Kealoha's house. "We'll have to figure it out later," Steve said. "He's home."

They met Kealoha at the door. "Ryan Kealoha," Steve said, holding up his badge. "Five-0. We have a few questions for you."

"This about the truck?" Kealoha asked, leaning on his door.

Steve exchanged a look with Danny. "What do you know about the truck?" Steve asked.

"I heard you had asked about it." Kealoha shrugged. "It was like any other booking. I mean, we get more credit and invoicing than cash, but it's not the first time I've gotten it."

"What do you remember about the person who booked it?" Danny asked.

Kealoha shrugged again. "Average? He was a normal guy, maybe a little bit of a beard, not much. Just...normal. He had a baseball cap on."

"What team?"

"I don't know. It was...blue, maybe? Black?"

Steve folded his arms over his chest, leaning in a little. "You know the penalties for obstructing justice?" he asked.

"I told you what I could remember. I can't tell you what I don't know."

After a long look, Steve backed off. "Okay. If you remember anything else," he said, pulling out a card, "give me a call."

"Yes, sir."

***

The ride to Steve's was quiet. As he pulled into the drive and killed the engine, Steve frowned at Danny. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just still can't figure out what it is about this case."

"Maybe you just need sleep," Steve said, opening the car door. "Come on."

He didn't bother with the lights, leading Danny up the stairs to the bedroom before Steve turned around. "You want the shower first?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Danny said. He turned to go into the bathroom, snagging Steve's wrist as he went along.

"I thought you were showering first," Steve said. 

Danny turned around, leaning in. "I am," he said, pulling Steve's head down for a kiss. "Just not alone."

***

Consciousness tugged at Steve's brain, but he fought it, trying to sink back into a nice, deep sleep. His brain, however, fought back, until he realized something wasn't right. He opened his eyes and rolled onto his side to find he was alone in his bed, the covers on the other side pushed back, the sheet visible in the moonlight. 

He ran a hand over the spot, finding it cold. Danny had been gone for some time. 

A clinking noise, followed by a muffled curse, drifted up the stairs. Steve was certain the voice had been Danny's, but he took his SIG anyway, just in case. 

Steve found Danny in the kitchen, standing at the sink in boxers, a beer in his hand. The smell of beer was strong, and Steve frowned, seeing two empties on the island in the middle of the room. 

"Hey," Steve said softly.

Danny started and turned, a little beer sloshing out of the top of his bottle onto his bare chest. "Hey," he replied, wiping at his chest before taking a drink.

"You okay?"

Danny nodded. "Fine."

Steve looked at the empties, then at the bottle in Danny's hand. "Okay," Steve said, picking up the empty bottles, frowning at how cool they were. Just how fast had Danny drunk them? Steve put them in the recycling bin. "You're fine...and you've had three beers in, what, half an hour?"

"Two," Danny said, holding up the one in his hand. "This one's almost full."

"Danny." At Danny's raised eyebrow, Steve said, "What's going on?"

Eyes closing, Danny took a deep breath before opening his eyes again. "Okay," he said, putting the beer down on the island. "It's just...does this worry you at all?"

Steve frowned. "What, you drinking in the middle of the night?"

"No," Danny said. "This." He waved a hand between the two of them. "Us." He bit his lip before meeting Steve's eyes again. "Are we crazy to be risking what we have by doing this?"

Steve swallowed hard. "Are you--" he said, clearing his throat. "I mean, do you want to...stop?"

"No," Danny said, the word quick and resolute, and Steve breathed a little easier. "That's the crazier part. I don't want to stop. I should," he said. "I know I should--it would be the smart thing, get out now before it goes to hell."

"Who says it's gonna go to hell?" 

Danny's laugh was harsh. "I'm me and you're you. How can it not?"

Steve moved a little closer, until he could smell Danny more than the alcohol. "We've done pretty good so far," Steve said softly.

"Yeah," Danny said, a hint of a smile on his lips. "Yeah, I guess we have."

Steve stepped even closer, his hands landing lightly on Danny's hips. "You don't want to stop?" he asked, just to be sure.

"No," Danny said, shaking his head. "I don't. And that..." he took a deep breath. "That scares me more than anything else."

Steve leaned down, capturing Danny's lips in a kiss. "You think too much, Danno."

"Someone has to," Danny teased, but he stretched up for another kiss. "You never think."

"I do," Steve said. "I absolutely do." Steve pulled Danny closer, reveling in his warmth. "Come back upstairs and I'll give you a list of things I think about."

"Would this list happen to involve sex?"

Steve smiled against Danny's lips. "It might."

"Then let's go."

***

Steve drifted into consciousness, burying himself deeper against Danny. He inhaled deeply, loving the smell of Danny so close, the way they fit together so perfectly. Why he'd spent so much time trying to ignore his feelings he could no longer remember.

Danny stirred, eyes blinking open. "Morning," he said, the rough voice going straight to Steve's cock. 

"Morning," Steve replied, leaning in for a kiss. He was on his third kiss when his phone rang. "Maybe they'll go away," Steve said against Danny's lips.

"Case," Danny muttered, not moving.

Steve groaned, taking one more kiss before rolling onto his back and picking up the phone, not bothering to look at the screen. "McGarrett."

"Steve," Chin said. "We found the armored truck."

That got his attention. He sat up, pushing back the covers. "We'll meet you at HQ."

"Actually, I'm almost on scene. Meet us there." 

"Where?"

"Well, that's where it gets strange."

Like there was anything about this case that wasn't strange? "How so?"

"Remember the armored car heist a few years back? The one where they were using the triathlon?"

"Yeah."

"Guess where we found the armored truck."

***

"Okay," Danny said, looking at the truck as they pulled it out of the water. "This is weird."

Steve watched, feeling a weird sense of déjà vu, as someone opened the back doors of the truck and water fell out. "I'm not sure weird quite covers it."

"I told you something about this case bothers me," Danny said.

Chin walked up. "Definitely our stolen truck," he said. "They didn't bother to hide the VIN."

"And they did paint it white with blue, like we thought," Steve said. "Any idea what they did with it before they drove it off the pier?"

"That's how we found it," Chin replied. "And get this--it was used in a robbery at Lexicon lab last night. 

"Wait, Lexicon?" Danny asked. "Isn't that where the guy from the break in with our fingerprint worked?"

"Yeah, pretty coincidental, isn't it?" Chin said. "The robber set off an alarm, and the truck was caught on traffic cameras at first. Lost sight for a while, but eventually picked it back up near here. HPD got a call that someone had seen a vehicle go off the pier here, and here it was."

Steve looked around. "Why here? It doesn't make any sense."

"I told you," Danny said. "This whole case doesn't make any sense."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. The case was starting to make a little more sense now, and he didn't like it. "All right. Any chance we'll find anything useful on it?"

"You know if anyone can it's Fong's crew."

Steve nodded. "You said a traffic camera, right? Did we get a shot of the thief?"

"Nope."

"So what was stolen?"

"It's a large housing for a new laser weapon," Chin said. "If the wrong person managed to assemble the whole thing, well, you could kiss Oahu goodbye."

"That powerful?" At Chin's nod, Steve said, "All right, you said assemble the whole thing. How much more do they need?"

"Apparently the company was in the process of assembling it. The thief got everything but the focal stone."

Steve closed his eyes for a second. "So all they need is a stone to take out the island?"

"It can't be just any stone, though," Chin said, as if that made it all better. "It's a special one that's been kept elsewhere for obvious reasons. But they were due to demonstrate its power for the military next week."

"The military was going to blow up the island?" Danny asked.

"No," Chin said. "Apparently it has many precision uses. It's just a side effect that you could take out the entire island with it."

"Oh, well, that's so much better," Danny said, running a hand through his hair. 

Steve had to agree with Danny's sarcasm. "When is the stone due in?"

"Not for a couple days yet, but they weren't sure exactly when," Chin said. "They're not notified until last minute for security reasons. But they promised to let us know as soon as they know it's on the way."

"Anyone else a little worried about all the things we don't know about this?" Danny asked.

"Then let's go back to HQ and go over what we do know," Steve said, "and maybe something new will come up."

***

Steve squinted at the screen in front of him, looking through the case for the millionth time, when Kono rushed through the door to his office.

"Lexicon called. The stone just arrived."

Steve's head jerked up. "What? It wasn't supposed to be here for a couple of days."

"Apparently they lied to their own people for security." Kono said. "It was already on its way, or they'd probably have changed the plans." 

Steve was already rounding the desk. "Did you call Danny?" he asked as he followed Kono out to the bullpen, where Chin was already pulling up the information on the building at Lexicon that now housed the stone.

"Tried," Kono said. "Went straight to voicemail, but I left a message."

"He must still be at Grace's play," Steve said. "We'll have to go in without him. Let's make a plan."

***

Steve glanced away from the lab building long enough to check his phone, but there were no voicemails or texts from Danny. It wasn't the first time Danny had forgotten to turn his phone back on, and it still wasn't late enough to be worried, but that didn't stop him.

He'd spent so long wanting Danny and thinking he'd never have him--now that he did, he was sure something was going to take it away. 

"Boss," Kono's voice came through Steve's earpiece. "I think I've got something." 

"What do you see?"

"Someone in all black, moving fast. Headed your way."

Steve picked up the night vision binoculars, scanning the north side of the building. It didn't take long before he saw the guy. Kono was right, he was moving fast. Steve got out of the truck, staying in the shadows to get closer. 

He was close enough to see the guy swipe an ID badge, but the light blinked red instead of green. He swiped it again, then once more.

Steve stepped out of the shadows, gun trained on the guy. "Hands up!" Steve said. "Five-0!"

The guy froze for one moment before he turned and ran.

Steve took off after him, gaining ground more slowly than he would like. "Kono, he's headed your way," Steve said. "In a hurry."

The guy rounded the corner, and Steve lost sight for two seconds. When he turned the corner, he was just in time to see Kono jump the guy, taking him down in what looked like a painful tackle. 

Chin came around the other corner as Steve reached Kono and their unconscious thief, who was wearing a ski mask that barely even left enough room for him to see. "Okay," Steve said, squatting down next to the guy, "let's see who you are."

He pulled the ski mask off, blinking as his brain took a second to actually register what he saw. 

Kono was the first of them to manage the word. "Danny?"

***

Steve was sitting on the couch in his office, Danny's head in his lap, when Danny's eyes blinked open. 

"Hey," Danny said, stretching, then looking around. "Not that I'm complaining about my current situation," he said, looking up at Steve, "but, um...how did I get here?"

Steve swallowed. "What's the last thing you remember?" he asked softly.

"I was at Grace's play." Danny's eyes widened. "Where's Grace?" He tried to sit up, but winced and stopped. "Ow." 

"Calm down," Steve said, pulling Danny back down into his lap. "Grace is fine. I called Rachel, she took her home after the play."

"Rachel took her home?" Danny frowned. "Did something happen to me?"

"Apparently," Steve said carefully, "you told her you had something to take care of."

"Wha--" Danny blinked a few times. "Why--none of this makes any sense." Something must have shown in Steve's face, though, because Danny looked at him for a few seconds, then said, "Why do I feel like it makes sense to you?"

Steve bit his lower lip for a moment. "Danny...we caught you at Lexicon Labs," he said, his voice quiet. "You were trying to steal the focus stone."

"That's not funny, Steven."

"I know." Steve took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's not funny. But it's true. You were unconscious because Kono took you out before we knew it was you."

"How did you not know it was me?"

"You were wearing a ski mask. It was dark." 

Danny closed his eyes. "So what happened then?"

"Kono and I brought you back here before HPD could see you," Steve said, running a gentle hand through Danny's hair. "Chin stayed behind and told them the thief got away, then he came back here. You were out for a quite a while, so we worked on figuring out what happened."

"What did you find?"

Steve eyed Danny critically. "Think you can get up?"

Danny sat up slowly, wincing, but it clearly wasn't as bad as before. Steve helped him stand, and hovered close the whole time as they went out to the bullpen.

"Hey, Danny," Kono said, giving him a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Like an elephant stomped on my head," Danny said. "Steve said you took me out. You pack a mean punch, apparently."

She laughed softly. "I'd like to take the credit," she said. "But I don't think it was my tackle that did it."

"Huh?"

"Remember the Amazing Nico?" Steve asked.

"Kinda hard to forget," Danny said. 

"Unless he makes you," Chin said, throwing a YouTube video up on the overhead. "See that?"

Danny watched for a few seconds as people stole napkins from banquet tables before he smacked Steve on the arm. "You told me you weren't going to upload that video."

"I didn't," Steve said. "That's a different banquet. And that," he said, pointing as the camera zoomed in, "is Arthur Drake."

"What?"

Chin paused the video. "Drake was hypnotized by Nico a couple of weeks before at a banquet. We think he pulled the break in at Wright's house and copied his badge, and that he killed Chen and took his hand." 

"Something must've gone wrong, though," Kono said. "So Nico got the hand and hypnotized you.  
We think he probably called in the tip about the Governor's benefit just to get cops there, hoping one of them would be a good candidate." 

"He must've thought he hit the jackpot when he got a member of Five-0," Chin said.

Steve leaned into Danny, who was looking a little lost. "He didn't count on you being so good at your job, even when you were hypnotized, though," Steve said. At Danny's confused look, Steve elaborated. "You left clues. The truck getting caught on camera, being dumped at the site of an old crime scene-- we were able to put two and two together a lot faster and deactivate the badge so the stone couldn't be stolen." 

Danny didn't look as encouraged by that as Steve had hoped. "I also gave Nico the laser housing," he said.

"You didn't," Steve said. "You were hypnotized. Nothing you did was your fault."

Danny shrugged like that didn't make much of a difference, and Steve leaned in harder, pressing his arm against Danny's. "We've got someone coming to help you so he can't do it again," Steve said quietly. 

"We need to go after Nico."

"HPD is looking for him," Kono said. "They're going to let us know as soon as they track him down."

The doors opened, and an HPD officer escorted a woman in. Steve squeezed Danny's arm as Steve said, "Dr. Kalama?"

"Yes."

"Thank you for coming out so late," Steve said, ushering Danny over to her. 

"No problem," she said, brushing her dark hair back as she looked between the two of them. "Which one of you--?"

Danny raised a hand. "That'd be me."

She nodded, giving him a faint smile. "I can't make promises," she said. "But I've had a high rate of success removing suggestions."

Danny looked at Steve, then took a deep breath. "I guess we'd better get started."

*** 

It had taken every ounce of Steve's self control not to walk in on the session Danny was having with Dr. Kalama. He'd like to say it had been out of courtesy, but the truth was he didn't want to mess it up. So instead of being by Danny's side, Steve sat in his office, waiting for Danny's door to open. 

The least they could've done was open the blinds so Steve could see they were okay.

After what felt like forever, the door opened, and Dr. Kalama stepped out, Danny right behind her. Steve watched as they shook hands before Danny escorted her out. Steve resisted the urge to follow, and was rewarded a couple of minutes later when Danny came straight to Steve's office.

"I'm impressed," Danny said as he walked in.

"At?"

"The fact that you sat here the whole time and didn't interfere."

Steve shrugged as if it hadn't been a Herculean effort for him. "I value your privacy, Danny."

Danny's laughter would have been insulting if it hadn't been both justified and a huge relief to hear. "Okay, what's the real reason?"

Steve sighed. "Okay, fine. I didn't want to mess up the session." 

"That sounds more like it," Danny said. "You could've asked, you know," he added, ducking his head a little. "I would've been fine with you coming in for her session."

It hadn't occurred to Steve that he had the right, but he wasn't exactly going to say that, either. "So what'd she say?"

Danny shrugged as he took a seat on the couch. "She said she can't promise it will be one hundred percent, that it's always tricky, trying to remove someone else's suggestions," he said. "But that it was clear I'd tried to resist, so she was hopeful."

There was more to it, Steve could tell, but he wasn't going to push. Danny had been pushed against his own will enough. Besides, whatever it was couldn't be bad, not if Danny wouldn't have minded Steve being in there in the first place. "That's good to hear."

"So," Danny said, clearing his throat before he continued, "any word on Nico?"

"Not yet." Steve said. "But I think he'll come to us."

"Why?" Danny asked.

Steve smiled. "Because he thinks you have the stone."

"What? I thought you told HPD the thief got away."

"We did. HPD knows the stone is safe--they just think the thief didn't get caught. So we put the word out that he got away with the stone to buy time to catch Nico." Steve shrugged. "Or so we told HPD."

"But you really did it to get him to contact me." At Steve's nod, Danny pursed his lips for a moment before asking, "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

Steve's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Before, you told me HPD was looking for him."

"They are."

"But you didn't tell me that he was looking for me. Why?"

"Because Dr. Kalama came in and we didn't get a chance to finish."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure it wasn't because you weren't sure you could trust me?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Steve got up and crossed the room to sit beside Danny on the sofa. "Look, we hadn't finished telling you when Dr. Kalama came in. That's all."

The length of time Danny studied him was unflattering, as was Danny's final, "You're sure?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"No."

At least that answer had come swiftly. "Then am I sure?"

He saw a little of the tension seep out of Danny's shoulders. "Yes."

"Good." Steve put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Then let's go see if there's any news on Nico and maybe we can avoid him contacting you altogether."

***

Steve kept an eye on Danny as Chin and Kono went back over the information they had on Nico. Steve had to hand it to them--the chance that the information would suddenly turn up something new was slim, at best, but they were going over it anyway, all for Danny's benefit. 

Not that it was distracting Danny, from the looks of things. He was watching politely, but Steve could see his mind was miles away. Steve had been clenching his fists for most of the information dump to avoid going over and putting his arms around Danny, giving their relationship away in the process.

He didn't care if Chin and Kono knew about them, but he and Danny hadn't talked about it. And it wasn't like Danny needed anything else on his shoulders. 

They were wrapping up the review when Danny pulled out his phone and frowned at it. "I think this might be what we were waiting for," he said, crossing the short distance to stand beside Steve and holding out his phone.

There was a text message, just a phone number and 'half an hour,' nothing more. "You don't recognize the number?"

Danny shook his head. "There are no other texts from it," he said, as Chin took the phone and started tracing it. 

"It's a burner," Chin said. "But I can ping the location." 

"If he's been texting you instructions," Kono said, "why are there no texts?"

"Maybe he made Danny erase them," Steve said. 

Danny shrugged, his shoulders remaining tense even when he was done. "I don't remember any of it."

"Hey," Steve said softly, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder. "None of this is your fault."

"I know."

He might know, Steve realized, but believing it was another story. But there was nothing Steve could do about that right now. "Okay," Steve said, giving Danny's shoulder a squeeze before letting go. 

"I've got a location," Chin said. "He's on Sand Island. One of the industrial buildings."

Steve checked his watch. "It's after 2 a.m. He's going to hear us coming."

"Which is probably why he's there," Kono said. 

"Then I go in alone," Danny said.

"No." Steve's response was quick and definitive. "The four of us go in on foot with HPD nearby."

He met Danny's eyes, steady, refusing to back down, until Danny nodded, and said, "Okay."

"Good," Steve said, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder for a brief second. "Then let's gear up."

***

Steve had gone over and over the situation ever since Nico's text, all the way to Sand Island, and he still hadn't come up with a convincing reason for Danny to stay behind. Still, he had to try. Because Danny was sitting there looking as if he had just shot five puppies, and they were about to send him into a potential firefight with no vest and a gun that wouldn't exactly be easy to get to. 

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Steve asked.

Danny raised an eyebrow at him as he slid his gun into his ankle holster. "You saying there's a way this plan works without me?"

"No." Dammit. Steve took a long breath and blew it out. He pulled on the night vision goggles and gave himself a moment to adjust. "Okay," he said, giving Danny's arm a squeeze, "let's do this."

They slipped quietly into the industrial park, sneaking up on the building as low and carefully as they could, Steve guiding Danny, since he couldn't be wearing goggles. Steve looked around, but didn't see any sign of guards as they made a circle around the building. Heat sensors had shown only one person, and that person was inside, but Steve still preferred what he could see with his own two eyes. 

Steve stopped at the corner nearest the door. "You ready?" he asked Danny.

"Do I have a choice?"

Danny's tone was sarcastic, but Steve took it seriously nonetheless. "Yes. We can go in there full force."

"And if it's not him and it tips him off?" Danny whispered. "What then? How many other people is he going to trick into being his pawns?"

"Fair enough," Steve said. "Just...be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

Steve huffed out a quiet laugh as Danny walked around the corner, Steve peeking around to watch until Danny entered the building.

When the door closed, Steve crept around to find the nearest window. He took his goggles to look inside, but saw nothing but darkness, so he moved on, looking in each one until he found one that gave him a view of Nico, standing under the one bare light bulb in the large room.

Danny came into view, walking slowly, his footsteps echoing loudly through the wire they'd carefully hidden on him. 

"No trouble getting here, I hope?" Nico said.

Danny shrugged. "No."

Something changed in Nico's face, and Steve gripped his gun a little tighter. "Chin, Kono," he said quietly into the comms, "something's wrong."

"I've got an entrance," Kono said.

Chin added, "Me, too."

"Good," Steve said. "Be ready." 

Steve went back to the door and slipped quietly inside, listening as Danny told Nico yes, he had the stone, and no, there hadn't been any problem.

"Good," Nico said, as Steve got to the closest barrier he could hide behind. He watched as Nico held out his hand. "Give it to me."

Danny stepped forward, pulling the fake stone from his pocket and holding it out. Steve prepared to run out at any second, bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to go. He was about approach when Nico suddenly reached out, a gun in his hand, grabbing Danny and turning him around so Danny's back was pressed up against Nico's front. 

"Where are they?" Nico said into Danny's ear, the gun pressed into Danny's side.

"Who?"

"Five-0," Nico said. "I know they're here."

Danny was convincing, Steve gave him that. "I was supposed to bring them?" he said, sounding confused. 

"No, you were supposed to answer, 'It was no trouble at all,' when I said, 'No trouble getting here, I hope?'" Nico said. "You didn't. Which means something happened to the suggestion."

"I don't know what you're talking about." 

Steve tensed at the same moment Danny did when Nico jabbed the gun into Danny's ribs. "Enough with the games!" Nico barked. "Tell your friends to drop their weapons and come out, or they'll be exchanging them for mops to clean up what's left of you!"

"My friends aren't here," Danny said, still sounding confused.

"Five-0!" Nico looked around, but his gun remained very much against Danny's ribs. "You have to the count of five, or your friend here is dead! Five!" Danny didn't so much as move. "Four! Three!"

Steve engaged the safety on his gun and stepped out into the open, hands up, gun useless in one open hand. "There's nobody else," Steve said calmly, as he kept walking towards Nico and Danny. "Just me."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"You chose your location well," Steve said, still creeping forward. "You'd have heard us coming if anyone else had been involved."

Nico tightened his hold on Danny. "That's far enough!" he said to Steve. 

Steve froze. "You have the stone," he said evenly. "Let us go and everybody's happy."

"Right, until you make it so I can't get off the island?" Nico sneered. "Nice try. Drop the gun!"

Steve shrugged. "Even if you shoot us, you still won't be able to get off the island. But when they catch you--and they will catch you--you'll be a cop killer."

"I get out of here fast enough they won't know until it's too late."

Steve laughed. "You think I didn't take care of that before I followed Danny out here?"

Nico's mouth tightened into a thin line. "Then if I can't get off the island, I guess I've got nothing to lose, right?"

It happened so fast Steve didn't have time to think, he just reacted. He could tell Nico was about to shoot Danny, but at the same time Danny reared his head back, slamming it into Nico's nose. Steve heard Nico's shot and saw Danny fall, Steve shooting Nico the second Danny was clear.

Nico fell backwards, and Steve ran over, kicking Nico's gun out of the way. Pointless move, as it turned out, as he saw Nico, eyes wide open, clearly dead. 

Steve turned to Danny as he heard Chin and Kono rushing in, but his attention was on Danny. He knelt down on the floor beside him. "Where did he get you?" Steve asked, hands roaming over Danny's body, looking for any blood or injury.

Danny's laughter didn't sound at all pained. "He missed," Danny said. 

"What?"

"I fell to get out of the way," Danny said. "He didn't shoot me."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. "You're okay?" Steve asked.

"Well, I think I might have a bump on the back of my head from Nico's nose," Danny said, rubbing at the spot, "but other than that...yeah."

Steve resisted the urge to wrap Danny in his arms. Instead he stood, holding out a hand to pull Danny to his feet. "Glad to hear it," Steve said, squeezing Danny's hand before letting it go. 

"Looks like this case is just about wrapped up," Chin said, as he and Kono joined Steve and Danny.

"We still need to find the rest of the materials," Danny said.

Kono held up a set of keys, the chain dangling from them one with an address written on it. "I'm guessing this might give us some clues."

"We still need to follow up on the clues," Steve said, even though he wanted badly to turn it all over to HPD, take Danny home and search him thoroughly for any injury he might be hiding. 

He wondered how badly he'd hidden that when he saw Chin and Kono exchange a look. "Chin and I can follow up," Kono said. "Didn't that doctor say something about Danny needing rest?"

She wasn't exactly subtle, but Steve grabbed at the excuse with both hands. "That's right, she did."

"I'm not an invalid," Danny grumbled.

"No one's saying you are, Danno," Steve said. "Just that maybe you could use the rest of the night off."

Danny sighed, but he nodded. "Let's go before I change my mind," he said.

Steve didn't have to be told twice.

***

Danny was quiet on the ride back to Steve's, his eyes fixed out the passenger window. Steve discarded a dozen conversation starters along the way, letting Danny have his silence until they were safely in the house.

"You wanna talk about it?" Steve said, heading straight for the kitchen and pulling out two beers. 

He offered one to Danny, who took it readily. After a long drink, Danny sighed. "No," he said, sounding every bit as tired as he looked. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Wasn't really meant to be a question," Steve said. 

Danny shrugged. "What is there to say? I almost handed a criminal the means to blow up the entire island."

"Against your knowledge and your will, Danny," Steve said softly. "And even then you managed to lead us to him."

"I know. Dr. Kalama made that point, too." 

"Are you seeing her again?"

"Yeah." Danny took another long drink. "She wants to follow up, make sure there are no lasting effects, and that I can deal with...well, with everything."

Danny was flushing again, and Steve frowned as he thought back over recent events. "There's something you're not telling me," Steve said.

"Like what?"

Danny was trying to sound casual, but Steve could see past it. "I don't know, Danny. You tell me."

"It's...." Danny finished off his beer. "Just...after Nico hypnotized me," Danny said, the words slow, his eyes fixed on his bottle, still in his hand, "the dreams I had...I mean, Dr. Kalama told me the suggestion caused it, that I was ordered to fill the missing time at night with dreams that would make me not want to talk about it, but...."

"But?" When Danny didn't answer, Steve said, softly, "Danny? What were the dreams about?"

"You," Danny said after a moment. "Us. Together."

That and the flush told Steve everything he needed to know, as a cold dread started to spread throughout his body. It wasn't like he hadn't known--the night they'd gotten together Danny had all but admitted it, but this...this was so much worse than he'd imagined. "So those dreams, uh, the ones that got us together, those were all planted suggestions by Nico to make you not want to talk about your missing time."

"No!" Danny finally met Steve's eyes. "I mean, the dreams were longer and more involved because the suggestion made me fill more time," Danny said. "But the doc...she said the suggestion has to play on things that I want. That it relies heavily on my subconscious direction." 

"That makes sense," Steve said, "given how you did everything you could to make us see what was going on, even as you were following his orders."

"Exactly." Danny licked his lips, and Steve tamped down on the flare of heat that went through him. "I'd been having the same kinds of dreams for ages, Steve," Danny said, taking a step closer. "They just got a lot longer and a lot more...creative after the hypnosis."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Creative?"

"Oh you have no idea."

Danny's voice had lowered, and he took a few steps closer, putting him in Steve's reach. "I think maybe you should tell me more about these dreams."

"Oh? Is this your idea of therapy?" 

Danny's eyes twinkled, and something in Steve unclenched, just a little, at this sign Danny was going to be okay. "You should definitely tell me more then," Steve said, pulling Danny into his arms. 

"Maybe I should just show you," Danny said, leaning up for a kiss.

A few kisses later, Steve pulled back, biting his lip as he looked down at Danny. "You're sure this is what you want?" he asked. "No hypnosis, no forced suggestion?"

"Babe," Danny said, a hint of a smile on his lips, "I wanted you from the first time you said 'Book 'em, Danno."

Steve threw his head back and laughed. "I knew you secretly loved that!"

"No, no, no, I hated it!" Danny thumped him on the back, but there was no real power to it. "Do you have any idea how difficult it was not to jump you every time you said it?"

Steve let his laughter die down before he leaned in for another kiss. "So why don't we go upstairs," he said, between kisses, "and you can show me how you book 'em, Danno?"

Danny groaned, which did nothing but fuel Steve's need for him. "You're going to be insufferable with that now, aren't you?"

"I wasn't before?"

"Fair point," Danny said, pulling out of Steve's arms and grabbing his hand to drag him towards the stairs. "Might as well get some mileage out of it."

"Whatever you say," Steve said, following gladly. "After all, if I didn't go along, you might book me. I'd hate to have that happen."

Danny stopped at the base of the stairs, turning so quickly Steve ran into him. "Are you sure about that?" Danny asked, his voice a near growl. "Because I'm very good with handcuffs."

Steve swallowed hard. "Well then," he said, his voice rough, "maybe you should book me, Danno."

"I thought you'd never ask.

\---

END

**Author's Note:**

> Want to learn more about me and my writing? Visit my page at <http://www.jamiemeadowswrites.com/>


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